Commander Keen 5: The Armageddon Machine

Game review

In the fifth installment of the Commander Keen series, our intrepid hero finds himself facing a new and daunting challenge: to deactivate the Armageddon Machine, a colossal space station created by the Shikadi. This game, like its predecessors, showcases the hallmark polish, engaging gameplay, and distinctive humor that fans have come to expect from Id Software. Commander Keen 5 continues the adventures of the eponymous character, who has become iconic for his ability to navigate the cosmos with nothing but his trusty pogo stick and a laser gun. Players will find themselves leaping and shooting their way through various levels, each filled with unique enemies and obstacles that require both skill and strategy to overcome.

The map is of course in the shape of a spaceship. However, related to this is that the illusion of an "open world" has completely disappeared from the game. Everything is pre-lined. Only in the phase where you have to destroy 4 generators, you can choose the order in which you complete the levels. In addition, the game quickly reduced the number of levels to about 12, which was downright disappointing for me. In addition, all the levels are similar to each other and the beautiful variety from the previous part is there. Unfortunately. I understand that we are on board a spaceship and the levels have to look futuristic. But the authors could certainly have made more of an effort and not only choose from three colors, which are also constantly repeated. That's why the game seems downright sloppy.

There are two nice things about the game. First, destroying the generators, which you had to destroy by jumping on the pogo. Finally, the pogo also got a slightly different function and I think it's a great idea and the feeling is priceless. The second thing was the finale where you had to destroy the ship's core (or whatever it was). Here the pogo was already insufficient and the Shikadi bombs had to come next. Sup. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see any boss fight in the end, even though I started to expect something similar when I first came into contact with the robot. Damage. This could be another element that would liven up the game a bit.